BANGKOK, Thailand – The Director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) was among the observers invited to attend the 57th Governing Body Meeting (GBM) of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) held here on 27 April 2015.

APO is a regional intergovernmental organization that aims to contribute to sustainable socioeconomic development of Asia and the Pacific through enhancing productivity.

Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, was among the 56 delegates to the high-level meeting attended by APO directors and their advisers from 19 of its 20 member countries as well as representatives of other organizations invited as observers.

SEARCA serves eight of the 20 APO member countries, namely: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, which are also SEAMEO member countries. Dr. Saguiguit’s attendance at the meeting was an opportunity to explore possible collaborative initiatives between SEARCA and APO in areas of common interest.

According to APO, important GBM agenda items included the annual report of the Secretary-General, approval of the APO revised budget for 2016, report on the proposed roadmap to achieve the APO Vision 2020, and assessment of the proposals for new Centers of Excellence.

Other organizations represented by the select group of observers that included Dr. Saguiguit were the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), and the Singapore Productivity Association (SPA). (Leah Lyn D. Domingo)